Communism as a concept is purely idealistic and cannot work for long. You only have to look at Soviet Russia which has disintegrated completely now, China, Cuba, etc. Why look outside, we only have to see what kind of downfall the communists have brought to the state of West Bengal, which once thriving in prosperity is now reduced to such dire straits. Even in Kerala, conditions are not so good, whatever prosperity is there, is brought by Malyalis working in other states and abroad. Communism should be banned completely,

Communism was  an economic theory by Karl Marx, but he forgot about human nature and that led to the down fall of his theory. It is all very well to talk of dictatorship of the Proleteriat, but he did not specify the means. It is an impratical  theory. 

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Communism as a concept is purely idealistic and cannot work for long. You only have to look at Soviet Russia which has disintegrated completely now, China, Cuba, etc. Why look outside, we only have to see what kind of downfall the communists have brought to the state of West Bengal, which once thriving in prosperity is now reduced to such dire straits. Even in Kerala, conditions are not so good, whatever prosperity is there, is brought by Malyalis working in other states and abroad. Communism should be banned completely,

                I tend to agree with you as far as Indian communist parties are concernd. They were holding demonstrations in favor of Mao tse Tung  when India was fighting with China in 1962.  They also sided with the  British Raj during the Quit India movement. They are in fact traitors.

MG Singh wrote:

Communism was  an economic theory by Karl Marx, but he forgot about human nature and that led to the down fall of his theory. It is all very well to talk of dictatorship of the Proleteriat, but he did not specify the means. It is an impratical  theory. 

Motivation is an important element for human being to work, but this theory completely ignore it.

Actually communism is the Marxist ideal that means a society where one works according to capacity and gets according to his needs. it appears that Marx did not conceive of communism in a single country. He believed that communism can be only a world system. He wrote two books. Das capital and The communist manifesto. He appealed to workers of the world to unite as they have nothing to lose except their chains and have a world to win.  

May be Communism has not worked. But Marxist thought has inspired many. Today the condition of labor in capitalist countries is not as bad as used to be a few centuries before. Now there are factory law, minimum wages act, maximum work hours, safety rules, welfare and accommodation facility to workers. This improvement in workers condition is also attributable to communist thought to a great extent.  Now workers are not completely  proletariat.  Marx said that they have nothing to lose and have a world to win. But today they have much to lose as their condition is not so bad as used to be.  Instead of class war, there is more cooperation between workers and capitalists. 

However we can't say that communism has totally failed. Actually it is the people who manage. Also Soviet experience may not be the last experience and only model of communism. There can be other models also in future. It is also not necessary that future model may be known only as 'communism'. what is important is the urge for economic and social justice.  Communism is the condition where every one works according to his capacity and gets according to his needs. There could be many ways to attain this. This may be compared to Indian motto- Vasudhev Kutumbukum (world is family). In a family, every one works according to capacity and gets according to need. Father works outside, mother in kitchen/ home and children go to school. But all get what they need. The same idea is applied to whole world- vasudhev Kutumbkum, which ultimately means 'communism'. 

Communism is the sum total of two German political philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels which also was a reflection of the society in the 1800's. They felt that property and resources have to be collectively owned by a classless society ! Each according to his ability and needs but this is not practical because you needed someone to be above them to see that equal distribution was made which in itself went against the definition where some became more equal.. Change is the only thing permanent in life and like everything else communism too changed according t times and now is withering away . In the Indian context, since we are still a developing economy, there is some relevance for communists in certain states, but even that is dwindling !

usha manohar wrote:

Communism is the sum total of two German political philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels which also was a reflection of the society in the 1800's. They felt that property and resources have to be collectively owned by a classless society ! Each according to his ability and needs but this is not practical because you needed someone to be above them to see that equal distribution was made which in itself went against the definition where some became more equal.. Change is the only thing permanent in life and like everything else communism too changed according t times and now is withering away . In the Indian context, since we are still a developing economy, there is some relevance for communists in certain states, but even that is dwindling !

 

Usha, it might be relevant for some states but then it ultimately falls upon human shoulders to make it work or fail. And sadly, every time, only greed has prevailed and even in those states, the poor have grown only poorer and left with nothing and the ones exercising control have prevailed each time. So ultimately, one cannot help but feel that capitalism is better, in it at least the people who work hard and honest are rewarded.

We should not forget that initial progress of Russia, China and Cuba was because of Marxism. Nobody can deny that Russia was transformed from a backward country to a superpower. So the same with China. Where Marxism failed was that it negated human values and that led to a wrong application. Dictatorship of the proletariat was substituted by the dictatorship of the party and one man rule. But Communisms may still make a comeback. Our own rebels in the heart of India are espousing the Maoist doctrine and they control 30% of the area there

So in effect Communism has not worked in India because it was relegated to certain states only and with the interference of Center it may not have worked like in other countries where the leaders had a free hand..However, in India the communist leaders and followers seem a confused lot not able to know how far they can go given the kind of traditional and complex society we have.

MG Singh wrote:

We should not forget that initial progress of Russia, China and Cuba was because of Marxism. Nobody can deny that Russia was transformed from a backward country to a superpower. So the same with China. Where Marxism failed was that it negated human values and that led to a wrong application. Dictatorship of the proletariat was substituted by the dictatorship of the party and one man rule. But Communisms may still make a comeback. Our own rebels in the heart of India are espousing the Maoist doctrine and they control 30% of the area there

Yes they are comeback as a terrorist. What is image of these rebels. They are making fool to innocent and naive tribal of India.